This presentation examines the extent to which world price spikes for rice, wheat and maize were transmitted to domestic commodity markets during the global food crisis of 2006-08, the factors that influenced that transmission, and the impact of those price changes on the poor. While domestic prices increased in most countries, some large countries were able to insulate themselves from those shocks through controls on international trade. Evidence will be presented to show that if price changes were transmitted to retail markets, they were usually also transmitted to the farmgate level, and price increases for fertilizer were typically not large enough to negate the positive impact of farm price increases on farm profits. Domestic prices of traditional staples such as sorghum, millet, and cassava increased less than prices of rice, wheat, and maize, but the prices of such traditional staples were still very volatile.